Third Program Year caper

GENERAL

In Fiscal Year 2012/2013, the City of Casper received $259,539 in Community Development Block Grant funds (CDBG) from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The City reprogrammed $27,078 of the previous year’s CDBG funds and received $39,938.72 in program income. The total amount of CDBG funds available to the City for FY 2012/2013 was $286,617. The following is a synopsis of accomplishments achieved using CDBG funds:

241 elderly and disabled persons in the community received Casper Area Transportation Coalition (CATC) tickets for transportation to medical, educational, recreational, and employment destinations.

6,000 tickets were provided to the Community Action Partnership to distribute to homeless and low-income persons for CATC transportation to medical facilities or social service agencies in the community.

The fixed route transit system, a primary community amenity provided 154,922 rides on The Bus and 53,638 rides were provided by the Casper Area Transportation Coalition (CATC) dial-a-ride service.

The City completed its 453 house through the Mission Serve, formerly World Changers, program. The program assisted 7 low-moderate income homeowners in the rehabilitation of their homes.

Four (4) homeowners had emergency repairs performed on their homes to address issues that posed an immediate threat to the health and safety of the residents.

Management of LifeSteps Campus, a 6.5 acre, multi-building social service campus, continued through the Community Action Partnership of Natrona County under a three (3) year contract.

Four (4) Commercial Façade Grants were awarded to businesses in the Old Yellowstone District (OYD) and downtown Casper.

The City leveraged CDBG funds with additional resources from other sources to make viable projects a reality. In kind contributions were provided by Mission Serve/World Changers. Their 30 volunteers contributed 40 hours of volunteer work at each project. This volunteer time has an estimated value of $12,000 (at a rate of $10 per hour).

The Consolidated Planning process facilitated community-wide planning efforts for the expenditure of City of Casper Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Community meetings of local service providers, educators, health care professionals, childcare operators, economic development professionals, and City of Casper Housing and Community Development staff developed eight (8) visions and supporting goals for the use of CDBG funds over the five-year period. The visions are:

to promote, support and encourage quality childcare

to promote and support affordable housing development efforts and preserve existing housing stock

to promote and support programs for persons and families that are homeless

None of the abovementioned goals are deemed any more important than the other; however, quality and quantity of childcare was raised as the number one community need.

The following report reflects outcomes and objectives achieved according to the Performance Measurements System implemented by HUD. In addition, each of the activities had to support the visions for the five year plan. It would be unusual to achieve a goal in a single fiscal year. In order to achieve the visions, most activities are multi-year in concept and implementation. The following is a description of program activities carried out, outcomes achieved, funds allocated and funds expended.
SUITABLE LIVING ENVIRONMENTThis section of the report focuses on activities that provide a suitable living environment for low-moderate income persons. The outcome of the CDBG funded activities created accessibility for the purpose of creating a suitable living environment.
Casper Area Transportation Coalition

The City’s MPO Staff oversees transit operations. Here, Pam Jones and Andrew Nelson stand beside a bus shelterOn April 18,2005 the City celebrated one of the greatest successes of a Five Year Consolidated Plan process -- the initiation of a community-wide fixed-route transit system called The Bus. Prior to The Bus system, elderly, disabled and low-income persons without personal transportation only had access to the dial-a-ride system, known as the Casper Area Transportation Coalition (CATC). The need for service outgrew the program’s capacity. CATC required 24 hours notice for transportation requests. On days when CATC reached its capacity, riders would have to placed on a waiting list, wait an additional day, take a costly cab ride, or rely upon friends or family to provide needed transportation.
Many of CATC’s passengers did not need the “door-to-door” service. A fixed route system would meet their transportation needs. A community task group was formed, and after two years of intensive planning, The Bus became operational. Initially, The Bus operated four routes. Each route was carefully planned to provide transit services to those areas most frequented by the target population – low-moderate income persons. The routes go to major shopping, employment and medical centers in the community. As retail and residential areas expanded the City’s boundaries on the west side, The Bus extended its service area to cover the western areas of Casper. Then, in July 2009, it expanded service again to include the Towns of Mills, Evansville and Bar Nunn. The buses link at a transfer station located on South Beech Streets and East Collins Drive. In the fall of 2011, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds also constructed a new transfer station with shelters and streetscaping.
CDBG funds provide ridership tickets for low-moderate income persons who need assistance to afford transportation services. Two hundred forty one persons (241) persons received assistance with tickets for either the dial-a-ride or The Bus. For a break-out of these persons by race, family size and composition, and income level, please see Exhibit E in the Appendix. In Fiscal Year 2012, The Bus provided 154,922 rides as compared to 133,766 rides in Fiscal Year 2011. The increased ridership is due to several factors: higher acceptance by the community; expanded routes; expanded access to more services; and, high personal transportation costs. The dial-a-ride system saw a decrease over the previous year’s ridership of 240 rides.
CDBG funds have become an integral part of the funding of CATC/The Bus. This year’s funding was $30,470 for ridership tickets. The City of Casper, the towns of Mills, Evansville and Bar Nunn contribute funds towards operational and needed matching funds for purchases of additional buses to operate the expanded routes.
Outcome: Persons without personal transportation have access to affordable transportation to get to jobs, medical appointments, shopping and social events.
Funds Allocated: $ 30,470

Funds Expended: $ 30,470

Total Beneficiaries

FY 2011

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015

Projected

1,330

1330

Actual

1,270

1410

Difference

60

80

LifeSteps CampusThe City owns LifeSteps Campus, a 6.5 acre tract of land on East 12th Street. The land and buildings of the former Wyoming Children’s Home were returned by the State of Wyoming to the City in the mid 1990’s. The purpose of the campus is to provide space for nonprofit organizations that provide supportive services to persons who may be homeless, transitional housing programs, and housing for populations that may be hard to house in neighborhoods. Although there is some vacant space, the City Council directed that the space be held for tenants that fit the campus mission to support social services. Community Action Partnership of Natrona County (CAP) assumed management responsibilities in October of 2011.
The current tenants and services on campus are:

In summary, CDBG funds were used to replace a condensate tank in Building E, which houses transitional housing units. The tank is essential to the ability to have a suitable living environment. Additional funds were used to replace a subfloor in Building B, which was causing a safety concern.

Outcome: Keeping the rents low for the nonprofit organizations that use the Campus allows the agencies to use more of their budget funds for direct service provision. CDBG funds make it possible to do necessary capital improvements that improve the living environment of the Campus for everyone who uses it.
Funds Allocated: $6,770.63

Funds Expended: $6,770.63

Total Beneficiaries

FY 2011

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015

Projected

500

30

Actual

1,236

20

Difference

736

(10)

Code Enforcement

City of Casper Code Enforcement Officers (Amber Buhler on left)Clean neighborhoods are the equivalent of healthy living environments. The Code Enforcement Division is responsible for helping to maintain the quality of life in Casper by addressing nuisance violations that pertain to weeds, litter, junk, junk vehicles, dangerous buildings, recreational vehicle parking, etc. Code Enforcement also enforces zoning regulations, fencing, signage, and setback regulations as well as other issues related to building permits, permitted uses, etc. In previous years, dumpsters were provided to residents to encourage the maintenance of their properties. HUD considers this to be a Public Services function and the City is limited in the percentage of CDBG funds that can be used for this purpose. Therefore, the number of direct beneficiaries served by Code Enforcement was reduced.
Property maintenance regulations are an integral tool for enforcing and encouraging the maintenance and upkeep of local properties. A Code Enforcement officer was assigned to the low-moderate income areas –Census Tracts 200 and 300 – to work with property owners and tenants on compliance, and to ensure that any dangerous buildings that threaten human health and welfare are removed. This year, CDBG funds paid one-half of the officer’s (Amber Buhler) salary. In previous years the position was fully-funded with CDBG funds, but with the reduction in HUD’s allocation, the City picked up the other half of the salary.
Outcome: The neighborhoods are cleaner, blight is reduced and occupants have a suitable living environment.
Funds Allocated: $ 24,403.82

Funds Expended: $ 24,403.82

Total Beneficiaries

FY 2011

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015

Projected

117

25

Actual

166

25

Difference

(49)

0

DECENT HOUSINGHousing Rehabilitation Assistance Program

Typically, the most affordable housing in Casper is located in the central core of town. Most of these houses are over fifty (50) years old. These neighborhoods are occupied by low-moderate income persons. Due to age, major housing systems are failing. The City had to cut its owner occupied rehabilitation program because of lower CDBG allocations. However, the City has retained its Emergency Repair Program and its World Changers/Mission Serve program. The Emergency Rehabilitation Program has funds set aside to help low-moderate income homeowners to obtain repairs – repairs that if not done, pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of the occupants. The World Changers/Mission Serve program uses CDBG funds to purchase the materials and construction assistance to a group of volunteer youth that perform exterior rehabilitation activities on the homes of low-moderate income homeowners.

W
835 East ‘A’ Before

orld Changers/Mission Serve is a faith-based organization. The City provides materials for exterior rehabilitation, selects homeowners, and supervises the construction activities. World Changers/Mission Serve provides the volunteer labor to do the rehabilitation work. This year, the City and World Changers celebrated its sixteenth (16th) anniversary of their partnership and completed seven (7) projects, for a total of 453 homes rehabilitated over the total time frame. The volunteer labor contributed by the 30 volunteers translated into approximately $12,000 for the year. The volunteer give of their time and labor to replace/repair roofs, windows, doors, repaint houses, clean yards, construct ramps for accessibility, and fix fences. This work is typically done in one week. When they leave, the worst looking house in the neighborhood is now the best looking house. Due to a reduction in the number of volunteers this year, there was a notable reduction in the number of homes that could be rehabilitated. Therefore, the City did not pursue a matching grant through the Community Pride and Revitalization (CPR) funds from the Wyoming Community Development Authority (WCDA).

This year, World Changers replaced two (2) roofs, painted six (6) homes, installed exterior doors and/or storm doors on four (4) homes, replaced windows on five (5) homes, installed siding on three (3) homes, as well as tearing out and rebuilding three (3) fences, repairing gutters and removing dead bushes.

he operation of the Housing Rehabilitation Assistance Program also requires the professional assistance of a general contractor who assesses the needs of the housing units, recommends rehabilitation activities, writes project bids, conducts walkthroughs, and oversees project construction. The contractor is paid an hourly fee on “an as needed basis”.

Outcome: Neighborhoods have been improved. Low-moderate income homeowners facing emergency repairs without any financial resources were able to get the repairs accomplished quickly and with little financial strain in the monthly budget.
Funds Allocated: $ 25,000.00

Urban Renewal Manager, Josh Bake, stands in the Old Yellowstone DistrictThe City of Casper utilizes the City Core Revitalization funds from CDBG to assist in the redevelopment and revitalization of the downtown core of Casper. The funds go towards both the downtown itself and the Old Yellowstone District (OYD). The Urban Renewal Division of the City of Casper is primarily responsible for redeveloping the OYD.

In 2001, the City established the Casper Urban Renewal Agency (CURA) to address the area known as the West Central Corridor (now the OYD). At the time, plans were underway to redevelop the Platte River Commons on the site of the former Amoco refinery. The corridor between the downtown Central Business District (CBD) and the Platte River Commons became a critical link in the City’s community development program. Therefore, the City Council established a designated Urban Renewal Area that includes the CBD.

CDBG funds have been critical to redevelopment efforts in the OYD and downtown city core. The Urban Renewal Manager works with the public and private sectors to facilitate planning, program oversight and growth for the district. The Urban Renewal Division has brought attention to this downtown district, and it will continue to build momentum. Success builds on success and projects are already building on one another. The Urban Renewal Manager works directly with developers to create functional and flourishing properties. The City of Casper will continue to provide financial assistance through direct investment into infrastructure and through the facilitation of loan programs to developers and business owners.
CDBG funds were used for four (4) major activities this fiscal year:

To provide low-interest loans to new commercial development via the Economic Revitalization – Revolving Loan Fund. This fund was established to stimulate job creation for low-moderate income persons in the urban renewal area.

A $50,000 loan was awarded to Montessori school project which resulted in 2 teaching assistant positions being created.

To continue to stimulate building façade upgrades to commercial properties via the Façade Matching Grant program. This program was approved by the City Council in May 2011 and has been a catalyst in physically improving the appearance of the low-moderate income area, and removing blight.

Four (4) façade grants were awarded with a CDBG investment of $36,683.26, and private match of $186,124.13

To provide tap fee assistance for the rehabilitation of vacant properties in the urban renewal area via the Tap Fee Matching Grant program. This program puts vacant buildings back into re-use and creates jobs for low-moderate income persons.

A $3,333 matching tap grant was awarded to the Montessori school project which converted a vacant warehouse into a school serving 56 students, and employing 9 people.

To demolish and remove dangerous buildings which threaten the human safety of the area, and the creation of further blight. In addition, to provide tipping fees’ assistance to private developers working within the identified district, to assist with demolition efforts and facilitate additional redevelopment efforts and removal of spot slum and blight.

Four (4) dangerous buildings were demolished for a total expense of $13,825.39. Three of the sites can be re-used for affordable housing projects; the other site is part of a new boxing club associated with the expansion of the Boys and Girls Club campus in North Casper (low-moderate income area).

Matching Façade Grant Program

Photos of 2012/2013 project:

Montessori School Project (before) Montessori School Project (after)

O
Sunshine Apartments I

utcome: The City-Core revitalization project will be a multi-year project; however, there are measurable results in low-moderate area job creation, economic growth, and removal of slum and blight,

Funds Allocated: $ 153,842.65

Funds Expended: $ 103,842.65

Total Beneficiaries

FY 2011

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015

Projected

33

8

Actual

27

12

Difference

(6)

4

Other Allowable Costs

H&CD Technician, Joy Clark

Administration:Administration funds were used to pay for staff salary and benefits, and general operations of the Housing and Community Development Division to oversee the progress of the use of Community Development Block Grant funds.
The position of Community Development Technician is paid 100% out of CDBG. The Community Development Technician processes all of the applicants for World Changers/Mission Serve and Emergency Repair programs, oversees housing initiatives throughout the City; facilitates maintenance and repair requests at LifeSteps campus, interfaces with the MPO division and CATC staff, and provides all program administration oversight.

Funds Allocated: $ 30,967.58

Funds Expended: $ 30,967.58
Affirmatively Furthering Fair HousingThe State of Wyoming does not have a fair housing office. A statewide fair office was opened in Casper in 2003; however, due to funding and management issues the office closed in 2006. The City of Casper does not receive sufficient funding to operate a fair housing program. Anyone with fair housing issues is referred to HUD’s Wyoming Field Office.

Renters need to be educated to recognize and report all types of discrimination for all of the protected classes. During housing shortages, renters are even more hesitant to make any derogatory reports as they fear losing their housing and finding a new housing situation is difficult. Most renters are not aware of fair housing laws and, unless the landlord has federal funding tied into the rental unit the landlord does not know about fair housing issues either. In the past decade, perhaps there have only been only a handful of contacts from renters to the Housing and Community Development (H&CD) office. Most calls are related to landlord/tenant issues such as housing conditions, refund of deposits, and lack of maintenance. Outreach and educational efforts to tenants and landlords, through the City’s Code Enforcement Division, provides both parties with knowledge of fair housing issues. The H&CD office will incorporate such a strategy in its new analysis of impediments.

HUD reviewed the City’s administration of the CDBG program in 2011. HUD stated that it was concerned that the City had not updated the Analysis of Impediments (AI) for several years. The City contracted this project out to a consultant, and the report was completed in August 2012.

Other ActionsThe City of Casper does not receive enough funding in its Community Development Block Grant to have any great impact on reducing the number of poverty level families. The City can, however, help increase the capacity of those agencies that support these families in providing better transportation, child care, services for elderly and disabled persons, and housing rehabilitation.
Leveraging Resources

CDBG funds are used to leverage additional funds to complete major projects.

The City of Casper and its vendor, CATC, leveraged additional funds from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for the operational costs associated with the dial-a-ride system and the fixed route bus system. Because CDBG funds provide ridership tickets, CATC used CDBG funds for the 20% match required by FTA.

In the case of the World Changers/Mission Serve project, volunteers provided labor.

The City of Casper also provides additional financial support for efforts such as the redevelopment of the Old Yellowstone District, the Weed and Seed program, code enforcement, and law enforcement. The community as a whole is a giving community inasmuch as its local foundations and United Way of Natrona County provide additional funding to social service agencies. Without the support of the local foundations, United Way and private donors, low-moderate income persons, especially those with great needs, would not have access to the many services to assist with transportation, senior care, child care and recreation.